FLORIDA. An inspector visiting Chick-fil-A at 6050 W Irlo Bronson Memorial Highway in Kissimmee this spring found five high-severity violations in a single visit: food contact surfaces not properly cleaned, food not cooked to required minimum temperature, no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked items, toxic chemicals improperly stored, and no allergen awareness demonstrated by staff.
That last citation carries a particular weight at a restaurant serving millions of customers annually. Inspectors documented that employees could not demonstrate knowledge of allergen protocols, a violation that state records flag as directly linked to emergency room visits and, in severe cases, deaths.
The Kissimmee location was not alone.
What Inspectors Found Across the State
Between March 24 and June 21, 2026, state inspectors cited ten Chick-fil-A locations across Florida for high-severity violations. The chain operates 216 locations statewide and holds a 95.83 percent pass rate across 3,914 inspections on record, with an average of 3.42 violations per inspection. No Florida location has been emergency-closed this year.
That overall record looks solid on paper. But the violations documented at the worst-performing locations this quarter are not minor paperwork failures.
Chick-fil-A Hamlin at 15899 New Independence Parkway in Winter Garden drew five high-severity citations alongside two intermediate violations. Among them: an employee not reporting symptoms of illness, food contact surfaces not properly cleaned or sanitized, time as a public health control not properly used, no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, and toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled.
Chick-fil-A Lake Buena Vista at 13524 SR 535 in Orlando was cited for four high-severity violations, including inadequate shell stock identification and records. That citation is unusual for a chain better known for chicken sandwiches than shellfish. It means inspectors found no documentation to trace where shellfish served at the location came from.
Chick-fil-A at Malabar Road FSR in Palm Bay was cited for food from an unapproved or unknown source, a violation inspectors treat as one of the most serious in the food safety code. The location also drew a citation for food not cooked to required minimum temperature.
For a chain built around chicken, that combination is notable. Salmonella in poultry survives below 165 degrees Fahrenheit. Food sourced outside the approved supply chain carries no USDA or FDA inspection history.
Chick-fil-A Gibsonton and 301 at 10110 S US 301 in Riverview was cited for an employee not reporting illness symptoms, improper hand and arm washing technique, and food from an unapproved or unknown source. The unapproved source citation at a second location, in a different part of the state, makes it a pattern rather than an isolated incident.
Chick-fil-A FSU No. 4737 at 1197 W Lantana Road in Lantana received three high-severity citations, including inadequate handwashing by food employees and improper hand and arm washing technique. Both violations appeared in the same inspection, meaning inspectors documented not just that employees skipped handwashing but that employees who did wash their hands were doing it wrong.
Chick-fil-A at Okeechobee and Turnpike No. 2201 at 6060 Okeechobee Boulevard in West Palm Beach was cited for an employee not reporting illness symptoms and inadequate shell stock identification, the same shellfish traceability gap found at the Lake Buena Vista location.
Chick-fil-A FSR No. 3846 at 234 W SR 436 in Altamonte Springs drew two high-severity citations: no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, and toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled.
Chick-fil-A at Leesburg FSR at 9925 US Hwy 441 was cited for no employee health policy or an inadequate one, and improper hand and arm washing technique. The absence of a written employee health policy is a foundational gap. Without one, there is no formal mechanism requiring sick workers to stay home.
Chick-fil-A at International Speedway FSR at 100 N Williamson Boulevard in Daytona Beach drew citations for an employee not reporting illness symptoms and food contact surfaces not properly cleaned or sanitized.
What These Violations Mean
The single most common high-severity violation across these ten locations was the failure to post a consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, cited at six of the ten locations. That violation matters most for people who cannot safely eat undercooked protein: pregnant women, elderly customers, young children, and anyone with a compromised immune system. Without the advisory, those customers have no way to make an informed choice.
The employee illness violations, documented at four locations including Winter Garden, Riverview, West Palm Beach, and Daytona Beach, represent a direct transmission route for norovirus and other pathogens. Food workers who continue working while symptomatic are the leading cause of multi-victim restaurant outbreaks. The Leesburg location's failure to maintain a written employee health policy compounds this risk. A policy on paper does not guarantee compliance, but the absence of one means there is no standard employees are even expected to follow.
Toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled appeared at five locations: Winter Garden, Kissimmee, Lake Buena Vista, Altamonte Springs, and West Palm Beach. Chemical contamination from improperly stored cleaning agents near food prep surfaces causes acute poisoning, not slow-onset illness. Symptoms can appear within minutes of ingestion.
The unapproved food source citations at Palm Bay and Riverview carry a traceability consequence that extends beyond a single inspection. If a customer becomes ill after eating food sourced outside the approved supply chain, investigators cannot trace the product back to its origin. That gap makes outbreak investigation significantly harder.
The Longer Record
The chain's statewide inspection record across 3,914 documented inspections provides the backdrop for what this quarter's findings represent. The 95.83 percent pass rate means roughly one in twenty-five inspections results in a failure, which across 216 locations and years of operation adds up to a substantial number of documented violations.
The data does not include individual prior inspection counts broken down by location, but the range of violation types across this quarter's worst performers suggests these are not all first-time citations. The Kissimmee location on W Irlo Bronson Memorial Highway accumulated eight total violations, the highest count in this quarter's data, across five high-severity and three intermediate categories. That breadth, covering cooking temperatures, surface sanitation, allergen awareness, sewage disposal, chemical storage, and wiping cloth use, points to systemic gaps rather than a single overlooked item.
The geographic spread is also worth noting. The ten locations with high-severity violations this quarter span Winter Garden, Kissimmee, Orlando, Palm Bay, Riverview, Lantana, West Palm Beach, Altamonte Springs, Leesburg, and Daytona Beach. These are not clustered in one region or one franchise group. They stretch from the Space Coast to the Palm Beaches to the Daytona corridor.
The shell stock traceability violation appeared at two locations, Lake Buena Vista and West Palm Beach, in the same inspection window. Neither location is a seafood restaurant. The question of what shellfish product triggered those citations at a chicken-focused chain, and whether the product was properly sourced, remains unresolved in the inspection records.